Self-adhesive dressings of the above-mentioned type are commonly encountered and are used to secure compresses, tubes and other technical medical items to the skin. They can also include a compress integrated into the dressing and attached to the layer of adhesive.
Spunlace nonwoven material is manufactured by forming fibres into a mat by mechanical means, usually by carding, on a moving web, which then passes through a hydroentangling unit in which the web is subjected to a plurality of jets of water under high pressure. In the hydroentangling process, mixing of the fibres that have been laid on the web takes place together with attachment of the fibres to one another as a result of their being entangled with one another and becoming mechanically attached to one another (combined). Spunlace nonwoven material can also be produced from a moving web with a nap of air-laid or wet-laid fibres. Spunlace nonwoven material exhibits very good stretchability in a direction (CD) across the machine direction (MD), i.e. the direction of movement of the web of fibres through the hydroentangling unit, but significantly poorer stretchability in the machine direction (MD).
The major difference in the stretchability of spunlace nonwoven material in different directions constitutes a major disadvantage in conjunction with the use of such materials in self-adhesive dressings, especially if these are to be applied to or in the vicinity of joints, such as the knees, elbows, wrists or fingers and toes, in which the skin is subjected to considerable stretching. If such a material is applied incorrectly, i.e. if the machine direction (MD) of the nonwoven material coincides with the direction of stretching of the skin, the nonwoven material is not able to follow the movements of the skin at or close to a joint, and the dressing will move relative to the skin. A considerable risk is present of the skin being irritated or damaged in conjunction with such relative movement. Also, in the case of swellings and oedema, the dressing can cause damage to the skin if it is not able to follow the direction of stretching of the skin.
The purpose of the present invention is to solve this problem by making available a dressing of the above-mentioned type, which is also capable of following the movements of the skin at joints or in similar areas where the stretching of the skin can be considerable, including in the event that the machine direction (MD) of the nonwoven material in the applied dressing were to coincide with the direction of stretching of the skin.